Former champion Bulldogs full-forward Kelvin Templeton has weighed into the AFL goalkicking debate, saying a lack of professionalism among players and coaches is contributing to poor conversion rates among goalkickers.

Templeton, who in 1980 became the first forward to win the Brownlow Medal, believes current players do not convert enough of their set shots because many do not have a goalkicking routine.

"Today's players are very professional in their approach to just about every other aspect of the game but goalkicking doesn't seem to have improved much over the years," he said.

"Many just kick at the goals and hope for the best.

"I know they have to switch quickly to defensive mode after missing a shot, but too often I see players run off without seeming too disappointed. When they show little reaction, that tells me they didn't really believe they would kick the goal.

"If you have a routine and you miss a shot, you should be angry, disappointed."

Templeton said he did not believe most coaches had a full appreciation of the processes required to be a consistently accurate goalkicker. "You look at their reaction in the coach's box to missed shots and often they don't seem too upset or surprised, either."

BPL last week reported that goalkicking accuracy had plummeted to its lowest level since official statistical analysis began in 1999. In the opening three rounds, players converted only 55 per cent of all shots.

The former sharpshooter says he had a set routine when kicking for goal that was inspired by golf legend Jack Nicklaus.

"Nicklaus had a three-step visualisation technique, working in reverse. First he would visualise the ball on the place on the green where he wanted to put it. Then he would imagine the flight the ball would take to that spot on the green. Finally, he would picture himself striking the ball to put it on that path."

The former Footscray captain says his own goalkicking technique involved blocking out objects in his peripheral vision and reducing the target area to a corridor from goal post to goal post. He would then visualise the ball travelling through the big sticks.

"Kicking for goal isn't like kicking to a teammate. You can't pick out someone behind the goals to kick to, so you have to pick out a line for it to travel along."

He believes a specialist goalkicker should be aiming for a conversion rate of between 70 and 80 per cent. "If a player can kick 75 per cent of his shots at goal in training, he should be able to do that in a match."

Templeton kicked 593 goals in 177 VFL games for Footscray and Melbourne between 1974 and 1985. He booted six goals on debut against Collingwood in round three of the 1974 season after arriving at the Western Oval as a skinny 17-year-old who had kicked 100 goals for Traralgon the previous season in the Latrobe Valley league.

After bulking up, he topped Footscray's goalkicking five years running from 1976 and the league table in 1978 (118 goals) and 1979 (91). His best return was 15.9 in a match against St Kilda in 1978 as the Doggies booted a then record VFL score of 33.15.

He served as an assistant coach under Tommy Hafey at the Sydney Swans and then as the club's chief executive between 1995 and 2002 before moving to the Middle East and for the past four years has run a business consultancy from Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates where he watches AFL games live via satellite most weekends.

These days he keeps fit with weekly visits to the gym and swimming several kilometres each weekend along the Abu Dhabi seafront. He has become a big fan of UFC, watching most of the events on TV, and has retained his links with Australian rules football by tossing the coin before the start of the past two AFL Middle East grand finals.